Cloth in



(No Model.)

,J. H. WILSON. CLOTH INSPBGTING AND TRIMMING MACHINE.

Patented Sept. 1;1885.

Ina nivu. P215515 Phom-Utmgnpher, Wnhingtofl. n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT EErcE.

JAMES H. IVILSON, OF LOW'ELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE W'HITE- HEAD & ATHERTON MACHINE COMPANY, OF SAMEPLAOE.

CLOTH INSPECTlNG AND TRIMMING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 325,581, dated September 1. 1885.

Application filed October 17, 1884.

To all whom it fltay concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES H. WILsoN, of Lowell, county of Middlesex, and Common wealth of Massachusetts, have invented cerfain new and useful Improvements in Cloth Inspecting and Trimming Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has reference to machines em ployed to permit the inspection of cloth, and also to trim the same-that is to say, to remove the long threads and other imperfections which may remain upon one or both sides of the fabric after it comes from the loom.

Machines of this class have been in use for some years. So far as I am informed they generally are made in such a way that the inspecting-table or table where the cloth is inspected by the workman-forms the top of the machine. The roll of cloth to be inspected and trimmed is placed inside the lower portion of the machine in some sort of holder, (where it is usually covered with dirt from the brushes,) of which the table forms the cover, the latter being hinged to permit it to be raised in order to deposit the cloth in the holder.

Such machines, however, can be used to advantage only in inspecting small rolls or short lengths of cloth. I

On the machine which I have invented it is possible and convenient to use large rolls of clothsuch as looms of recent pattern are arranged to weaveand to wind up the same after inspection into still larger rolls. In my improved machine the inspecting-table, over which the cloth passes, is combined with a creel above the same to contain the cloth in rolls or folds, and with a cloth-winding roll which winds up the cloth after inspection and serves to draw it through the machine. \Vith these devices thus arranged I combine brushes to trim the cloth, which may be so placed as to trim the cloth either before or after, or both before and after, inspection. I find in practice that it is sufficient generally to place them in such position as to trim the cloth before inspect-ion, and it is such an arrangement which is represented in the accompanying drawings, which will be presently more particularly referred to.

The machine is power-driven, and of course (No model.)

is provided with a shipping device, whereby it can be stopped or started at the pleasure of the operator. Under the term shipping de vice I include either a bclt-shipper in case fast and loose pulleys and belting are used, or a clutch device in case the power is communicated to the machine by gear or shafting directly, these two arrangements being interchangeable and well known to mechanics. The shipping device is spring or equivalently controlled, and is so organized that normally it occupies a position in which the machine is at rest. Consequently, in order to be put in a position where the machine will be put in motion, it must be moved to and maintained in that position by the workman. The object of this arrangement is to compel the constant presence of the workman, and to prevent him from quitting the machine so long as it is in operation; and this object is completely attained, inasmuch as the moment the workman quits the machine he releases control of the shipping device, which at once returns automatically to a position where the machine will be at rest. The shipping device is conveniently operated by a treadle extending from side to side of the front of the machine and within easy reach of the foot of the workman.

Having indicated in a general way the nature of my improvements, Iwill now proceed more particularly to describe and ascertain the same by reference to the accompanying drawings, which represent a cloth inspecting and trimming machine embodying the several features of my invention in their preferred form.

Figure l is a side elevation of so much of the machine as is needed for the purpose of illustration. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a portion of it, designed more particularly to show the shipping device.

A represents the main frame which supports the working parts, and which is made of suitable height and width. That portion of the machine below the table F is entirely closed by a casing provided with doors at the back to enable dirt, 810., to be removed; and a floor to catch the dirt is to be provided at a point above where the cloth goes under the machine to the winding-up roll. This casing,

however, is not represented in the drawings, in order to avoid obscuring theworking parts. Power is communicated to the working parts of the machine by a driving-belt, a, which works in connection with fast and loose pulleys b c. On the shaft of the fast pulley are the two pulleys d e, the former for driving the brushes and the latter for driving the clothwinding roll.

F is the slanting table over which passes the cloth to be inspected by the workman. Above the table is a creel, B, for holding the cloth to be inspected. The roll of cloth therein is indicated by dotted lines at D.

To facilitate the unwinding of the cloth I mount in the lower part of the creel idle-rolls I, on which the clot-h rests, as indicated. The cloth-roll is put into the creel from the front of the machine.

Inasmuch as the cloth operated on from time to time is not all of the same width, and as it is desirable to prevent the cloth from side movement in the creel, I provide the creel at each end with an adjustable head, B, supported and adapted to slide on rods X, and held in their adjusted positions thereon by thumb-screws t, as indicated in Fig. 1. Thus the working length of the creel can be increased or lessened, as required by the width of the cloth, so as to accommodate the cloth-roll, and yet to prevent it from lateral movement in the creel. This arrangement of the holder or creel above the table places it in a position where it can be conveniently used to hold very large rolls, and where it can be handily reached by the workman whenever it becomes necessary to put in a fresh roll, and it removes the cloth from a position where dirt from the brushes can reach it.

G G are rotary brushes, and H a flat hinged brush for trimming the cloth. I have hereinbefore stated that brushes can be placed so as to trim cloth either before or after, or vboth before and after, inspection. In some cases they may be wholly omitted, if desired. When they are employed I prefer to arrange them, as shown in the drawings, to act on the cloth before inspection. The rotary brushes are mounted below the table F in suitable bearings in the frame A, and are driven by a belt, f, from pulley d, which passes around idlepulley g and pulleys h h on the brushes, as indicated in Fig. 1. The flat brush His hinged at the rear to the main frame A, and brushes the surface of the cloth just as the latter passes onto the inspecting-table.

The winding-up roll is indicated at C. It may be placed in any desired position; but I prefer to arrange it, as shown, at the rear of the machine. It is driven by a belt, 2, which passes from pulley 0 around the pulley j on the shaft or axle of the winding-up roll. 0 is one of the forwardly-inclined extensions of the supporting-frame of this roll, against which the roll of cloth I), as it is wound up, rests. The cloth-roll rests on the winding-up roll and against the extensions 0, the cloth being wound up something after the manner of a cotton-lap. The winding-up roll is the agent by which the cloth is unwound from roll D and pulled through the machine. In practice it is covered with sand-paper, and an iron rod or roll, D rests loosely on it.

In starting the machine all that is needed is that the cloth passing beneath and up over the Winding-up roll should preliminarily be caused to take one or two turns around the loose iron roll. After this, the winding-up roll will act without further assistance to pull the cloth along and wind it up in roll form.

The creel frame-work is indicated at K. The guide-rollers and rods over which the cloth passes are shown at Z. One of the rollersas, for instance, lmay be a measuring- .roller, to which may be connected, in any well-known way, a register to indicate the number of yards of cloth that may pass through the machine.

J is the spring-controlled belt-shipper by which the driving-belt a is moved from the loose pulley c to the fast pulley b, and vice versa. Normally the shipper stands in a position in which the belt is on the loose pulley. and the machine consequently is at rest. I A treadle-board, M, within convenient reach of the foot of the workman, who sits in front of the machine, extends the width of the latter. and is hinged at its rear to the frame A. It is connected to the shipper by a chain, m, or equivalent means, so that the workman by depressing the treadle can move the shipper in a direction to throw the driving-belt from the loose on to the fast pulley. In the ar rangement shown in Fig. 2 the shipping-fork is carried by a slide, a, movable upon a horizontal guide-bar, 0. The chain m passes over a guide or carrier roll, 19, and is connected by a rod or link, r, to the slide. A spiral spring, 8, encircling the link, bearing at one end against a projection on the guide-bar 0 and at the other end against slide a, puts the latter in position where the shipper will hold the driving-belt on the loose pulley. So long as the workman holds the treadle depressed the machine will continue in operation; but the moment he removes his foot from it the shipper will automatically shift the drivingbelt to the loose pulley and the machine will stop. This arrangement compels the continued presence of the workman, and prevents any portion of the cloth from passing through the machine unless some one is present to inspect it.

The course of the cloth through the machine is indicated by the broken line L, and the direction of rotation of the several working parts is indicated by arrows. The cloth as it comes from the loom in a roll, D, is placed in the creel in the top of the machine, passes over rods and rolls 70 Z, thence down into the back of the machine between the rotary brushes, which act on both sides of it, thence under the fiat brush H and over the table F, where it is inspected, thence down under the machine to be rolled upon the loose roll or rod D by the winding-up roll G,which is the agent by which the cloth is pulled through the machine. The person operating the machine sits in front and, through the treadle M, has the motive power at all times under control. WVhen the roll D is nearly all unwound (it being placed directly in front and easy of access to the operator) an other full roll is put in the creel and the loose end of the first named roll is connected to the end of the fresh roll by a wire pointed at both ends, or by needle and coarse thread, or in some other suitable way. This operation takes but little time, and the machine practically can be kept in almost continuous operation. The roll of cloth at the winding-up end is taken away from that part very readily,and is then ready for the next operation, whether folding or packing in roll form for transportation. Having described my improvements and the best way known to me of carrying the same into practical effect, what I claim herein as new and of my own invention is as follows:

1. The combination, substantially as here inhcfore set forth, of the inspecting-table, the

cloth-holding creel placed above the table,and the rotating winding-up rollwhereby the cloth from the creel is pulled through the machine over the inspecting-table and wound up in roll form.

2. The combination of the inspecting-table, the cloth-holding creel above the table, the r0- tating winding-up roll, and the trimmingbrushes, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

3. The combination of the inspecting-table, the cloth-creel, the power-driven winding-up roll, and mechanism for actuating the same, the fast and loose pulleys and drivingbelt, the springcontrolled belt-shipper normally holding the drivingbelt on the loose pulley, and the treadle or its equivalent for moving the shipper in a direction to shift the belt from the loose to the fast pulley, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 4th day of October, 1884.

J AS. H. \VlLSON.

Witnesses:

A. T. ATHERTON, CHAS. T. ATHERTON. 

